Self-Audits Under the PAID Pilot Program: How is DOL Using the PAID Pilot Program To Allow Employers to Self-Audit & Correct Payroll Errors?

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March 21, 2018

The Department of Labor (DOL) has launched a pilot program that allows employers to self-audit and correct payroll errors through the new Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program1. So far, the program is only scheduled to run till April, when the 6 month trial ends. It's not certain if the program will run beyond that point or not yet.

The new program is allowing businesses to voluntarily correct any issues with payroll that they notice that violate the Fair Labor Standard's Act (FLSA). The new PAID program gives the employer the power to obtain DOL settlements, which can help avoid lawsuits, a right employees cannot waive without a hearing from the DOL.

What Is The PAID Pilot Program Offered by DOL?

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The pilot program is running the PAID program2 that has been rolled out by the DOL for a 6-month period of time to see if it proves to be effective. The PAID program is meant to solve issues with minimum wage and per-hour jobs. The PAID program also facilitates the issues of any complaints that employees have about their minimum wage pay and overtime compensation, which they are entitled to under the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). The goal is that these issues will be able to be resolved without going to court or without employees looking to sue their employers over such issues. It seeks to avoid these issues by allowing employers to voluntarily fix issues on their payroll to ensure employees are appropriately compensated for their work without a court having to step in on the issue.

Who Can Participate In The PAID Pilot Program?

The participation in the PAID Pilot Program is limited to only companies that are covered by the FLSA. Long as the company is covered by the FLSA they are eligible to participate in this PAID pilot program. The program was set up as an intermediary source to help employers and employees solve any basic pay disagreements about minimum wage or overtime pay that the employee feels they are owed.

Moreover, the PAID Pilot Program allows employers to change their payrolls to provide compensation to these employees without having to seek a court hearing to do so. The program allows employers to avoid court litigation or attorney fees while allowing employees to get 100% of the funds that are owed to them paid to them in a much faster manner.

The PAID Pilot Program Provides Training Materials For Employers:

Beyond just helping employees and employers fix pay issues outside of a court setting, the PAID Pilot Program also provides the employers with educational tools to help them avoid payroll issues in the future. Employers can also use the tools that the PAID program provides to help ensure that they are complying with payroll requirements and following all laws on paying employees appropriately and in a timely manner for the work that they have completed.

The materials provided by the PAID pilot program are concise in nature and are educational to the employers to ensure that they are following the rules of pay for all employees in the future. Employers will be able to determine which behaviors of their own are violating their employees rights to fair and prompt pay while also determining in which time frames employees may have not been fairly paid for the work they completed. The program then voluntarily lets the employers go back and fix the issues without requiring them to pay litigation or attorney fees in a court setting to do it.

Employees Are Paid Promptly:

Employers are required to pay the employee the full amount of the wages owed to them when they are discovered or founded in an employee complaint in their checks during the next pay period. All wages owed to an employee must be paid in full during the next pay period without exception.

For more information about the PAID Pilot Program and what the DOL plans to do with it next please feel free to contact us.

1. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-labor-announces-new-pilot-employer-self-reporting-program-to-address
2. https://www.dol.gov/whd/paid/

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